Friday, August 27, 2010

Kenya gets new American-style constitution

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya's president signed a new constitution into law Friday that institutes a U.S.-style system of checks and balances and has been hailed as the most significant political event since Kenya's independence nearly a half century ago.

Kenya's new constitution is part of a reform package that President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga committed themselves to after signing a power-sharing deal in February 2008. That deal ended violence that killed more than 1,000 people following Kenya's disputed December 2007 presidential vote.

"I feel honored to be your President at this moment because this is the most important day in the history of our nation since independence," said the 78-year-old Kibaki. He was a senior official of Kenya's independence party, the Kenya African National Union, when Britain handed over power in 1963 to its leader, Jomo Kenyatta.

Odinga said the new constitution was a major step in bridging Kenya's political and ethnic divisions.

"No one could have thought that out of the bitter harvest of the disputed election and the violence that pitted our people against each other just two years ago, we would be witnessing today the birth of a national unity that has eluded us for more than 40 years," Odinga said.

Friday's event comes after an overwhelming majority of Kenyan voters adopted the new constitution in an Aug. 4 referendum. Kibaki's signature formally marks the end of a decades-long struggle to cut down the massive powers of the presidency.

The government and parliament now must implement the ambitious document, a process expected to take up to five years. The document requires, among other things, the formation of a Supreme Court and a Senate. It also demands that the country's judiciary be vetted to rid it of corrupt or incompetent judges and that parliament pass 49 new laws.

Patrick Gichuki, a street vendor, painted his body in the colors of the Kenyan national flag and the words "Kenya mpya" — new Kenya.

"We are happy to be Kenyans and we are happy that Kenya has a new constitution," said Gichuki, who hopes the new constitution will help address the many problems facing Kenyan youth.

Emmy Kosgei, who sang during the festivities and got all the VIPs dancing at the podium, said the signing of a new constitution signified a new beginning for the country and she was proud to be part of it.

"Most of us have grown up reading about such events as history," she said. "But today we are a part of history."

Joining African leaders at the festivities was Sudan's president who faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in connection with violence in Darfur, where U.N. officials estimate 300,000 people have died.

It is only the second time that Omar al-Bashir has risked arrest by traveling to a member state of the International Criminal Court since he was first charged in 2009. The ICC has no police force and depends on member states to enforce its orders.

Human rights groups had urged the Kenyan government to bar al-Bashir from the festivities but Kenya's foreign minister defended al-Bashir's presence.

Tanzania's Serengeti is a vast plain dotted with acacia trees and watering holes, where wildebeest and zebra gather in huge herds for annual migrations. But conservationists warned Wednesday that one of the world's natural wonders will be scarred and the ancient migratory patterns destroyed if Tanzania's government carries through with a plan to build a highway through the park.

The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London called on Tanzania to reconsider the plan. "The Serengeti is the site of one of the last great ungulate (hoofed) migrations left on Earth, the pre-eminent symbol of wild nature for millions of visitors and TV viewers, and a hugely important source of income for the people of Tanzania through ecotourism," said James Deutsch, executive director of the WCS's Africa Program. "To threaten this natural marvel with a road would be a tragedy," Deutsch said.

Tanzania plans to build a 420-kilometer (260-mile) road between Arusha, near Mount Kilimanjaro, and Musoma, on Lake Victoria, in 2012. The route would bisect the northern Serengeti, potentially jeopardizing the 2 million wildebeests and zebra who migrate in search for water from the southern Serengeti north into Kenya's adjacent Masai Mara reserve.

Tanzania's government says the road is needed to connect the country's west with commercial activity on the eastern coast. The president has vowed to move forward with its construction. A spokesman for Tanzania National Parks, Pascal Shelutete, said the road won't be built until feasibility studies have been done.

"All the precautions will be taken care of. The government is aware of the importance of this portion of the road," Shelutete said. "The project won't take off until all the kinds of studies are carried out to see what will be the positive and negative impact of it." But Tanzanian media have previously quoted officials as saying such feasibility studies have already been completed and that the road project is on track.

Critics say a new highway could just as easily be built through the southern parts of the park and not harm the migratory route.

The northern road could provide easier access for poachers, and conservationists predict a "catastrophic decrease" in wildebeests and zebras, both from a stunted migration and animals being hit by vehicles.

"Once that starts to happen officials are going to want to put a fence up, and once you have a fence you stop the migration completely," said Sarah Christie, a conservationist at the Zoological Society of London.

The Frankfurt Zoological Society sounded an alarm against the road earlier this year, saying its construction would have "disastrous effects" on the region's ecosystem.

A Kenya Wildlife Service spokeswoman, Kentice Tikilo, said the road would negatively affect Kenya's Masai Mara, which sits directly above the Serengeti. Animals move back and forth over the border between the two parks. If the road is built and the animal populations dwindle, Masai Mara stands to lose animals and consequently fewer tourists will want to visit. "At the end of the day we want to be sure conservation wins, whether it's on the Tanzania side or the Kenya side," Tikilo said. "We are all conservationists and we want to be sure we preserve our heritage."